While sitting in for Rush Limbaugh this morning, Roger Hedgecock did a fine job of lying in his place.

Paraphrasing here, since I don't yet have a copy of the audio (any Ditto Heads out there feel like sending it to me?), at appx. 40 minutes into the first hour of today's show, Hedgecock informedlied to his listeners by telling them that Bill Clinton "didn't even have NATO approval" for the campaign against Kosovo.

Aside from NATO, who actually led the bombing, Hedgecock's "news" will likely come as a shock to the wingnuts out there (like Phyllis Schlafly, for instance) who have been referring to the Kosovo campaign as "the Clinton/NATO bombing raids" for years while expressing their outrage (IRONY ALERT!) that the President "lied" us into the war. A war, we might add, where not a single American Troop was lost, but that's beside the point, of course.

BRAD BLOG comment trolls can rest assured that --- even with their Talking Points Master, Rush, gone for the week --- they are still receiving the finest misinformation GOP money can buy even in his absense.

So many millions of listeners will buy it with out another thought. He and Limbaugh just makes them feel strong, righteous and in control, in a wacky world. An evil genius, same MO as that guy over in Germany in the 30s.

I posted this piece on Dredd's open Thread last week, but it seems appropriate to repost it here - it is initially a response to the wingnuts who say "what about Clinton and Kosovo" when Iraq is criticized...

Colin Powell (active General at the time) told NATO that the US would not contemplate military intervention in the Bosnian-Serbian conflict without UN approval, on April 27, 1993. At the same meeting NATO said that if intervention was to be used, there needed to be clear political objectives. The first American soldiers arrived in Macedonia on 10th June as part of a NATO-UN security force designed to protect safe areas for Bosnian Muslims, and to prevent conflict from spilling beyond currently embattled territories. The UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force) was highly critical of NATO’s unwillingness to act directly and emphatically in the Bosnian conflict, when it was clear that there was a flagrant humanitarian crisis, including “ethnic cleansing” – genocide. Thus, there was strong international pressure for US and NATO intervention. The Dayton peace accords were signed on December 14th, 1995, and by the end of 1996, a NATO stabilization force of approximately 30,000 troops remained, with some 5,000 Americans. Clinton took into consideration that keeping troops in the region may negatively affect his re-election campaign and yet chose to keep them there alongside the other NATO troops. These troops were not fighting insurgents or trying to gain territory. They were a peacekeeping force.

In June of 1998, when it was clear that Slobodan Milosevic was going to continue his ethnic cleansing mission against Albanians Muslims in Kosovo, NATO resolved to intervene against the Serbian government. This was transparent. The US (as a part of the NATO body) agreed to support this mission, and announced its intentions to do so in August. It should also be noted that there was considerable debate within NATO about intervention, and that intervention was strictly because of the humanitarian crisis being placed upon the Albanian population in Kosovo. NATO did not support the Kosovo rebels in their desire to separate from Serbia, and feared that their intervention would promote such a separation. It was because of such debate, and the desire for diplomacy to win over military strikes, that it took until March of 1999 for the US and NATO to be decisive about military action, and only because the Serbian government refused all international pressure to sign a peace treaty with the Kosovars, and has amassed 40,000 troops in Kosovo after the Kosovars had signed a peace treaty which included non-separation from the Serbian state. In all of this, President Clinton was transparent with the American people, and had the full support of the international community (with the exception of Serbian ally, Russia – and even Russia objected to Serbia’s actions, they just didn’t want to set precedent for breakaway regions) and the NATO alliance. If anything, the impeachment hearings allowed president Clinton less political maneuverability than he would otherwise have had, precisely because he knew his motives would be questioned – and yet military action was a joint NATO decision. Clinton then faced criticism for not acting swiftly enough to avert the humanitarian crisis. It was a no win situation for Clinton – in his words “I was left with a bunch of bad choices.”

THE POINT IS: Bill Clinton never lied about Kosovo. He lied about Monica Lewinsky. And that didn’t cause anyone’s death. The stark differences between Clinton’s war and Bush’s war are numerous. Clinton exhausted diplomacy; Bush didn’t. Clinton had full allied and international support; Bush didn’t. Clinton had effective intelligence, had precise objectives, met them, and left; Bush didn’t. Clinton was transparent from the start that his objective was humanitarian; Bush lied to get us into war based in conjured specters of WMD, then when they didn’t materialize he claimed that the mission was for “liberation.” Clinton had no need to deflect his impeachment hearings with a military conflict, he wasn’t up for re-election; Bush was. The Balkans have no OIL; Iraq does.

First lets stop focusing on so many things at once and get the point here people: We are fighting a radical, extreme zionist fascist movement.

If you want to fight that, you have to attack it from all sides. But only from one designated weak point at a time.

It is entirely possible we won't have ANYTHING change in the voting situation for years--but it is also entirely possible we will change it OVERNIGHT.

It all depends, virtually and consistently on how much we attack and "de-stroy" one point of weakness. What I mean by destroy is entirely dis-assemble, nothing more nothing less.

You want to fight then realize you are fighting for freedom....and realize that every step of the way they will try to tear it out of YOUR hands.

The voting issue is problem number 1. Lets make sure the voting companies are convicted in court. We have a discovery process already under way lets focus on that and take it directly to the crime scene and beyond...

That includes ensuring accurate tests for the machines in January, right now that's what is ahead of us. Get rid of this device completely and alltogether.

Tom Delay is problem number 2. Focus on derailing Congress completely, by any means neccesary until Delay is permanently out. Lets watch him get convicted and set in front of the Judge to explain his actions, ONLY THEN ARE WE ACTUALLY SAFE FROM HIS BULLSHIT.

By Tuesday this will explode big time because Jack Abramoff has sang on Tom Delay and multiple other congress members and it should clean out a good fail-swoop......in ONE pass of corrupt congressman.

AFTER assailing the voting situation, and getting things as contained as possible then its time to vote on resolutions for impeachment. In fact, if enough dirty congressman are "removed" via Abramoff & his piss-ant crooks we could even have an impeachment TRIAL HEARING begin.

As for what that means do not read into it...they've still packed the courts. And do not read into Dick Cheney....I guarantee he will be arrested &/or indicted for something in the CIA scandal.

What you need to worry about is who is left. Who is left after Tom Delay, and when you are fighting to get rid of the machines you also need to expose this group:

Move America Forward, code named Move America Backward to the darkages. They're brainwashed puppets full of so much shit you can see it on the walls.

Maybe someone out there, including myself can spread the word FAR & WIDE about Kemp & the torture.......Connect Kemp to every damn scam you can possibly dream up, because THAT is how dirty Move America Backward is.

Finally don't lose focus of the goals.....Get rid of congress, machines, & the end result bush, cheney

Don't even IMAGINE a Karl Rove...he will be indicted next period. Just move full-bore on dismantling the voting machine apparatus & Tom Delay/Move America Forward.

You shouldn't put his picture up unless you want to distract people, lol! He is very good looking, especially if you go for older gentlemen like I do. He looks like a dashing movie star, in the age range of Robert Redford and the like. Woo-hoo! Sorry, I know it's not helpful, it I'm just being honest about what my primary reaction was.

It doesn't matter who sits in the chair in front of that camera. They're scripts are pre-written for them and they are all paid by the same dictating, ruthless, lying, spineless, dishonest, bought-and-paid-for asswipes. There's no surprise there to me.

TimeTogether - I've been hoping to add a Light-on-Dark alternate version for some time. It's just a matter of time and resources to get it programmed and make it available. Have actually gotten a *bit* of work done on it recently. Hope to have such a version available soon. But, as mentioned, it's a matter of time and resources to pull it all off...Thanks for hanging in there with me until I am able to get it done one way or the other.

If Hedgecock is making up stupid numbers about the unemployment rate under Jimmy Carter, it means the right-wing media are really desperate. Not only is a triple-digit unemployment rate mathematically impossible, it's wholly irrelevant to the question, "Did George W. Bush violate the law by spying on American citizens without a warrant?"

The spying issue is hurting them badly, friends. We have to hammer away at the facts and only the facts. Remember, just before Mussolini fell, his supporters had nothing left to say in his defense except, "He made the trains run on time." Lesson: when Fascists run out of defenses, they change the subject.

Could you offer an alternate style with black text on a white background? Each time I come here I have to go into preferences and override your colors to read this important site. Every human factors study shows white text on black is the easiest to read.

Of course it's worth it to take the time to be able to read here, but to encourage more people to read here, please consider this.

Clinton did a lot of things that I was unhappy with, but he was an intellectual giant compared with Shrub. I think that's the thing that's got to rub the neocons across the grain. They know that their poster boy has all the mental prowess of a planting pot. Or maybe that's the kicker - maybe that's the thing that they all laugh at us about, that there is no way in hell this buffoon could have been elected head of the PTA, let alone two presidencies, without DIEvine intervention.

Or, I should say DID laugh at us about until people like Bev and Brad started gaining traction. Keep watching trolls. They hung Mussolini upside-down from a lamppost. I wonder how the sequel will turn out.

(Disclaimer to the NSA: that is not a threat, just a casual observation. Settle down, boys.)

World War II is often referred to as "the last just war." It was "just" because the Allies began by defending themselves against external aggression and ended by liberating occupied countries and stemming the Holocaust. However, the plight of the European Jews was ignored until the very end. So, the case could be made that NATO's bombing of Serbia to stave off impending genocide in Kosovo was an even more just war. Claims that this action was an unjustified attack on a sovereign nation are disputed by a friend of mine, the head of a Serbian geophysical institute. Pavle (who was almost killed by an American cluster bomb!) cannot thank America enough for delivering his country from the yoke of Slobodan Milosevic.

So the Kosovo war was a twofer, liberating the Serbs as well as saving the Kosovars. I might add that this just war was championed and led by General Wesley Clark (who might now be president had his campaign not been torpedoed by the mainstream media). Indeed, even though Bill Clinton and Madeline Albright were in favor of the Kosovo intervention, they probably could not have brought it off in time were it not for General Clark's proactivity as Supreme Commander of NATO.

My wingnut troll sister in law from Simi Valley won't even listen to Rush. His program is on the level of professional wrestling, the 700 Club, or Focus on the Family. Imagine the blood level of ocycontin that is required to take his place.

What a buch of pathetic losers you all are.
Sitting on the couches of you studio apartments with a bong in your mouth, trying to act like you know what's going on. Your tiny little trailer park life is pathetic. You're the low-life, go nowhere sub-culture that is always upset with people who make a success of themselves. Sitting there watching Star Trek with a bag of Cheetos in yur hand.
Your parents did a horrible job.